with whom hitherto he had hardly ever been in contact.  The large resources with which they were furnished, in contrast to his own, excited no feeling of envy, nor even a desire to possess their ample means, unless he could have used them to extend missionary operations; and the gentlemen themselves would sometimes remark that the missionaries were more comfortable than they.  Though they might at times spend thousands of pounds where Livingstone did not spend as many pence, and would be provided with horses, servants, tents, and stores, enough to secure comfort under almost any conditions, they had not that key to the native heart and that power to command the willing services of native attendants which belonged so remarkably to the missionary.  “When we arrive at a spot where we intend to spend the night,” writes Livingstone to his family, “all hands immediately unyoke the oxen.  Then one or two of the company collect wood; one of us strikes up a fire, another gets out the water-bucket and fills the kettle; a piece of meat is thrown on the fire, and if we have biscuits, we are at our coffee in less than half an hour after arriving.  Our friends, perhaps, sit or stand shivering at their fire for two or three hours before they get their things ready, and are glad occasionally of a cup of coffee from us.”

The first act of the missionaries on arriving at their destination was to have an interview with the chief, and ask whether he desired a missionary.  Having an eye to the beads, guns, and other things, of which white men seemed always to have an ample store, the chief and his men gave them a cordial welcome, and Livingstone next proceeded to make a purchase of land.  This, like Abraham with the sons of Heth, he insisted should be done in legal form, and for this purpose he drew up a written contract to which, after it was fully explained to them, both parties attached their signatures or marks.  They then proceeded to the erection of a hut fifty feet by eighteen, not getting much help from the Bakhatlas, who devolved such labors on the women, but being greatly helped by the native deacon, Mebalwe.  All this Livingstone and his companion had done on their own responsibility, and in the hope that the Directors would approve of it.  But if they did not, he told them that he was at their disposal “to go anywhere—­provided it be FORWARD.”

The progress of medical and scientific work during this period is noted in a letter to Dr. Risdon Bennett, dated 30th June, 1843.  In addition to full details of the missionary work, this letter enters largely into the state of disease in South Africa, and records some interesting cases, medical and surgical.  Still more interesting, perhaps, is the evidence it affords of the place in Livingstone’s attention which began to be occupied by three great subjects of which we shall hear much anon—­Fever, Tsetse, and “the Lake.”  Fever he considered the greatest barrier to the evangelization of Africa.